Apparatus foe purifying



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APPARATUSFOB, PURIFYING, STERILIZING. AND FILTBRING DRINKING WATER.

No. 471,261 Patented Mar. 22, 189 2.

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S. L. WEST. APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING, ST ERILIZINGVAND FILTBRING DRINKING WATER. No. 471,261. Patented Mar. 22, 1892. 129.2. E1 3. v

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S. L. WEST.

APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING, STERILIZING. AND FILTERING DRINKING WATER.

Patented Mar. 22, 1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SIMEON LESLIE VEST, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING, STERILIZING, AND FILTERING DRINKING-WATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 471,261, dated March 22, 1892.

Application filed May 14, 1891. Serial No. 392,729. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, SIMEON LESLIE WEsT, physician, of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Purifying, Sterilizing, and Filtering Drinking-Water, of which the following is a specification.

It is a well-known and recognized fact that manydiseasesarepropagatedbydisease-germs contained in drinking-water. Water which contains such germs, or which there is reason to believe may contain such germs, can he drank only at the risk of contracting disease. The liability of water for drinking purposes containing dangerous germs is particularly great in large cities, where the water is obtained from streams or natural reservoirs,

been boiled.

which are in constant danger of contamination. Accordingly many persons use for drinking purposes only water resulting from the melting of ice. This ice-water, however,

' cannot be relied upon, since only a few, if any,

of the dangerous germs are destroyed by freezing and the ice may have come from polluted streams or ponds. The only practicable known method of completely destroying all dangerous germs, and thus sterilizing the water, is by boiling the same. many physicians instruct their patients and families under their care that no water should be used for drinking unless it has previously This rule, however, of never drinking any but boiled water is a difficult one to carry out under the conditions existing in the average household. It is manifestly impracticable to stop and boil water and wait for it to cool each time it is wanted, and if an attempt is made to keep a supply of boiled water on hand constant attention (such as cannot always be given) is required to insure the supply never failing; and even in case an unfailiu g supply of previouslyboiled water can be secured it is, with the ordinary household facilities, exposed to the surrounding atmosphere, and hence susceptible to possible contamination between the time of boiling and the time of use.

Now the object of the present invention is to provide a certain and unfailing supply of drinking-water which has been previously boiled, sterilized, and filtered, and which has Accordingly not subsequently been exposed to the atmos- The present invention consists in apparatus for effecting this result.

The apparatus constituting this inventionis primarily designed to be usedin connection with the usual water-supply and heating apparatus which is in common use in houses in localities where the water is supplied from street-mains. The invention, however, is not restricted in its application to such water-supply and heating apparatus. In order, however, that the nature of the invention may be clearly understood, it will be describedin connection with such a water-supply and heating apparatus.

The improved apparatus constituting the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is aview of ordinary water supply and heating appliances with the improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view of a storage-reservoir for the boiled and sterilized water. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of a thermal or thermostatic valve employed. Figs. 4, 5, 6,7, and 8 are detail views of the filter employed.

Referring to the drawings, A is a cold-water-supply pipe, through which cold water is brought from the water-main into the building. B is an ordinary cold-water spigot for drawing off cold water. 0 is averticalbranch cold-water pipe leading from the supply-pipe A and having suitable lateral branches, asD E, one of which, as D, carries cold water throughout the building, while the other branch E leads to the boiler F to supply water thereto. The water in the boiler is heated by connection in the usual manner with the water-back of a range or by connection with any other source of heat. There are shown in the drawings the usual connections with the water-back of a range, G being the pipe leading from the boiler to the range and H the hot-water-return pipe leading from the range to the boiler. I is the usual hot-water pipe conveyingwater from the boiler to the places of use. J is a branch hot-water pipe, and K a discharge faucet or spigot. All of these parts are old and well known, being the usual appliances to be found in ordinary city dwellings. The water which is supplied by this usual boiler F cannot be relied upon for drinking purposes, since there is no certainty that the water within the boiler has ever reached boiling heat. In boilers of this character, as is well known, cold water is supplied as fast as hot water is drawn off, since the eold-wateninlet pipe is always in communication with the boiler. Consequently if any considerable quantity of water is'drawn off for any purpose the temperature of the water within the boiler will be reduced below the boiling-point, and if water should then be taken from the boiler for drinking purposes it would be water which had not been sterilized by being subjected to a boiling temperature. Furthermore, these usual boilers cannot be relied upon in the summer season, (when the greatest demand would be made fordrinkingwvateiy) since in the summer-time these household-boilers are heated ordinarily only for a few hours during the day, and although from time to time the water within the boiler may be heated to the boiling-point nevertheless as soon as the fire which heats the boiler is out and any water is drawn therefrom the boiler fills up with cold water which has not been subjected to boilin Accord i ly this ordinary household-boiler is unreliable forfurnishing sterilized drinking-water. Now the present invention consists in a drinking-water system applied to this ordinary water system in common use, since by applying the invention to such ordinary apparatus it can be rendered available under existing circumstances. The improved drinking-water system consists, essentially, in a drinking-water tank L, a Water-discharge pipe M, leading therefrom, a water-delivery pipe N, leading thereto, a thermal or thermostatic Valve 0, connecting the delivery-pipe N with a water-feed pipe, which is conveniently one of the hot-water pipes of the usual system, and a filter P. Preferably the connection through the thermal valve is made between the drinking-water delivery-pipe N and the hot-water return-pipe H, since this pipe II, which thus becomes the feed-pipe to the thermal valve, contains the hottest water, and accordingly there is the greatest assurance of a copious supply to the drinking-water tank of water heated to the boiliu g temperature.

The thermal valve is one of any proper construction which will only open upon the surrounding temperature reaching a predetermined limit. This limit in the present apparatus should be fixed at a sufficiently high degree to destroy the disease-germs in the water, say at 212 Fahrenheit. The preferred construction of thermal valve here employed is shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. As there shown there is a depending cylinder a arranged vertically within the hot-water feedpipe H, so as to be inclosed thereby. The bottom of this cylinder a is permanently closed, and its top is covered bya flexible metallic diaphragm b. lVithin this cylinder a is located a column of mercury or of other similar thermo-expansible liquid which expands or contracts quickly in response to changes in temperature. Above the diaphragm b is a valve 0, which co-operates with a valve-seat (Z and which has a downwardlyextending stem 0', which rests upon the diaphragm. Normally the valve rests 011 its seat and closes the passage beneath it. When, however, the temperature of the water in the hot-Water feed-pipe H, surrounding the cylinder a, reaches 212, the thermo-expansible liquid within the cylinder expands sufliciently to lift the diaphragm, and thus lifts the valve from its seat. As the valve rises it establishes communication between the hot-water feed-pipe H and the delivery-pipe N of the drinking-water system, leading to the drinking-water tank. As a result of this construction it will appear that as soon as the water within the feed-pipe II reaches a temperature of 212 Fahrenheit the valve 0 will be opened, thereby permitting a portion of thehot water at the temperature of 212 to enter the delivery-pipe N. As soon, however, as the temperature of the water Within the feed-pipe H falls below 212 the mercury will fall in the cylinder a and the valve 0 will close both by gravity and by reason of the waterpressure within the feed-pipe H, thus closing the delivery-pipe N and preventing any water passing therethrough. The prompt closing of the valve is further insured by a spring (1. In this manner by the employment of a thermal valve it will be evident that no water under the desired boiling temperature can pass through the delivery-pipe N into the drinking-water tank L. It will be noted that the thermo-sensitive portion of the thermal valve is surrounded by the water in the hot-water feed-pipe ll, so that the action IIO of the thermal valve is controlled solely by a the temperature of the water within said water-feed pipe.

In order that no exterior air may come in contact with the water within the drinkingwater tank L and in order that the tank may receive the water when fed thereto and permit its withdrawal, the construction shown in Fig. 1 is adopted. The Water-tank is arranged, by preference, vertically (though not necessarily so) and is a true cylinder on its interior. This cylinder has an open mouth, and fitting within it is a rising-and-falling piston e, which fits air-tight and water-tight therein. This piston rises when Waterenters the tank through the delivery-pipe N by reason'of the pressure within the water-main. When water is drawn off from the tank through the discharge-pipe M, the piston descends of its own weight, aided by external index, as with the cross-bar through which the stem passes.

As the water within the drinking-water tank L will under ordinary circumstances be too hot to beimmediately drank, it is necessary to cool the water during its passage' from the tank to its point of use. The drinking-water is led through the discharge-pipe M to any convenient point, and, if desired, this pipe M can be carried entirely through the building in which the apparatus is located and as many discharge-faucets leading therefrom may be supplied as may be desired.

Means are provided for cooling the water in the pipe M between the tank and its place or places of use. A convenient mode of cooling the water within this pipe M is to carry the pipe M along in operative contact with any of the cold-water pipesas, for example, with the cold-water pipe B. This operative contact can be secured in any convenient manner, as by having one of the pipes pass inside of the other. Preferably the arrangement is that shown in the drawings, wherein the pipe M,leading from the drinking-water tank, passes inside of the cold-water pipe B.

A modified construction of the tank L and the means for cooling the water therein is shown in Fig. 2. In this construction the tank is not provided with a piston. The delivery-pipe N enters at the top and the discharge pipe M extends from the bottom. The water within the tank is cooled by a cold-water coil E, located within it. This coil may be a portion of any one of the usual pipes through which cold water fiows. Preferably, however, it is a part .of the cold-water pipe E, which supplies the boiler F.

If it is desired that any portion of the drinking-water from the tank L should be reduced to the temperature of ice-water, this may be accomplished by connecting-pipe M or a branch thereof with any receptacle contain ing ice. As an illustration of this, a branch pipe Q, leading from the pipe M, is shown extending into an ice-box R and coiled in the bottom thereof, so that ice placed in the box may rest upon the coiled pipe and cool the water passing therethrough.

In order that the water may be filtered, a filter P is employed, which is located at any convenient point between the hot water circulating-pipes GH and the place or places of use of the sterilized water. Preferably the filter is located in the discharge-pipe M where it merges from the surrounding cold-water pipe 13. v

The construction of the filter which is preferably employed is illustrated in Figs. 4 to 8 of the drawings. The filter comprises a casing T and a conical hollow turning plug U. The casing T has an inlet-opening i and outletopening Z, by means of which the interior of the casing communicates with the discharge-pipe M. The inlet-opening i communicates with two branching passages in and a, and likewise the outlet-opening Z communicates with two branching passages 0 and 19. These passages co-operate with suitable ports in the turning plug. vided into three compartments 8, t, and u, the central compartment i being adapted to contain a filtering medium, such as charcoal. The plug has four ports 11, w, 00, and y, two of which 12 w are located in the wall of the compartments and the other two :0 and y are located in the wall of the compartment to. These several ports '0, w, m, and 'y are located at intervals of ninety degrees, as shown in Fig. 7. As shown in Fig. 4, the plug U is in such position that the port 0 registers with the inlet branch passage m, the port a: registers with the outlet branch passage 19, and the two ports to y are idle. The water consequently enters the compartments, thence passes through the filtering medium t, and thence out through the compartment u. By turning the plug through one hundred and eighty degrees the current of the water through the filtering me- The hollow interior of the plug is didium would be reversed, since the port 1 would then register with the inlet branch passage n, while the port 1; would register with the outlet branch passage 0, the ports to and y being idle.

The object of the ports to and y is to clean the filter. These ports 10 and y are adapted to register with the inlet branch passages m and 01, respectively; but they do not register with the outlet branch passages 0 and p, but with branch passages 1 and 2 of a cleaningoutlet W. In Fig. 5 the plug U is shown turned to a position at ninety degrees from the position shown in Fig. 4. In this position the ports 1; and 0c are both idle, while the port 10 registers with the inlet branch passage m and the port 'y registers with the cleaning outlet branch passage 2. Consequently the water enters the chamber .9, passes through the filtering medium, and thence out through the chamber u. Should the plug be turned one hundred and eighty degrees from the position shown in Fig. 5, the current of the water will pass through the filtering medium in the opposite direction, since the port 'y would register with the inlet branch passage 01 and the port to with cleaning branch passage Z, while the ports o and a: would be idle.

If necessary to remove and replace the filtering medium, the plug would be turned fortyfive degrees from the position shown in either Figs. 4 and 5. In this position all of the ports in the plug-would be closed, so that the flow of water would cease.

The plug is provided with a removable ITO threaded cap X, so that the inner compartments of the plug can be reached. The charcoal or other filtering material is preferably inelosed in a cage V, supported by a spindle Z.

It is not essential to the invention that the improved drinking-water system should be used in connection with a water-supply and heating system such as is shown. It can be used in connection with any water-heating appliances. It is only necessary that the drinkin g-water system consisting of the drinkingwater tank and the delivery and discharge pipes thereof should be connected to a source of water-supply by means of a valve the movements of which are automatically effected by changes in the temperature, (such valves being commonly known as thermal or thermostatic valves,) and that the water supplied to the pipe delivering water to the drinking-water tank should be subjected to heat, so that it may be heated to a temperature which willdestroy all disease-germs in the water. It is, however, preferred to adaptthe new improvements to the ordinary waterheating appliances common in ordinary households, since the appliances provide means for heating the water to a sutficient temperature andin sufficient quantities to insure an unfailing and automatic supply of drinking-water which has been subjected to such a temperature as to destroy all disease-germs. It will be noted, also, that the invention provides means for the isolation of the water from the exterior air after being heated.

I claim as my invention-- 1. Atank for holding drinking-water and a discharge-pipe leading therefrom, in combination with a hot water delivery -pipe for delivering water to said water-tank and a thermal valve for controlling the flow of waterinto said water delivery pipe, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with a Water-heatingapparatus, a Water-supply, a closed sterilizedwater-service apparatus connected with said water-supply, a thermal valve normally stopping the passage to said closed water-service apparatus and operative by the temperature of the water of the water-supply when at a germ destroying heat, and means for withdrawing the sterilized water at will from the closed sterilized-\vater-service apparatus, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A hot-water-circulating system, means for heating the'water, and a drinking-water tank, in combination with a delivery pipe leading from said hot-water-circulating system to said tank, a the'rmal valve controlled by the heat of the water in said hot-water system and controlling the outlet to said pipe,, a discharge-pipe leading from said tank to the place or places of use, and a filter for filtering the water, said filter being located between said hot-water system and the place of use, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of a thermal valve, a water-feed pipe of a drinking-water system leading thereto, a water-delivery pipe leading therefrom, and means for heating the water in said Water-feed pipe, said thermal valve controlling the passage of water from said waterfeed pipe to said water-delivery pipe and the action of said thermal valve being controlled by the temperature of the water in said water-feed pipe, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of athermal valve which opens only at a temperature su fliciently high to destroy diseasegerms in water, a waterfeed pipe leading to said valve, awater-delivery. pipe of a drinking-water system leading therefrom, and means for heating the water in said water-feed pipe, said thermal valve controlling the passage of water from said waterfeed pipe to said water-delivery pipe and the action of said thermal valve being controlled by the temperature of the water in said waterfeed pipe, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination of a thermal valve which opens only at a temperature sufliciently high to destroy disease-germs in water, a waterfeed pipe in which the water is constantly under pressure, said water-feed pipe leading to said thermal valve, means for heating the water in said water-feed pipe, and a water-delivery'pipe of a drinking-Water system leading from said thermal valve, said thermal valve controlling the passage of water from said water-feed pipe to said water-delivery pipe and the action of said thermal valve be ing controlled by the temperature of the water in said water-feed pipe, substantially as set forth.

7. A thermal valve which opens'only at a temperature sufiiciently high to destroy disease-germs in water, a water-feed pipe leading to said valve, and a water-delivery pipe of a drinking-water system leading therefrom, said thermal valve controlling the. passage of water from said water-feed pipe to said waterdelivery pipe and the action of said thermal valve being controlled by the temperature of the water in said water-feed pipe, in combination with means for heating the water in said water-feed pipe and a filter through which the water passes, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination of a thermal valve, a water-feed pipe of a drinking-water system leading thereto, a water-delivery pipe leading therefrom, and means for heating the water in said water-feed pipe, said thermal valve controlling the passage of water from said water-feed pipe to said water-delivery pipe and the thermo-sensitive portion of said thermal valve being surrounded by the water in said water-feed pipe, whereby the action of said thermal valve is controlled by the temperature of the water in said water-feed pipe, substantially as set forth.

9. Aboiler adapted to be supplied with cold Water from a Water-supply system under press-v we and pipes G and H, leading from and returning to said boiler and brought in contact with a source of heat, in combination with a drinking-Water tank L, a Water-discharge pipe M, leading therefrorn,.a Water-delivery pipe N, leading from the pipe H to said drinking- Water tank L, and a thermal valve 0, controlling the connection between said pipe H 

